Yamaha has updated its Yamaha P Series of digital pianos with the P-255. Yamaha suggests it has a more authentic piano sound and feel than before. It’s highly portable and can also be used with matching stand and three-pedal accessory, making it great for both on-the-move and in the home. In addition, an optional iPad app can be used to graphically alter the instrument’s settings.

The P-255 has three functions not found together on any other P Series instrument before:

Key-off samples: This feature reproduces the slight change in sound at the instant you remove your fingers from the keys. What’s more, different key-off sounds are produced for staccato and legato playing.

Sustain sampling: The resonance of the soundboard and strings heard when the damper pedal is used has been sampled in order to recreate this acoustic effect. The P-255 responds to how deep you depress the pedal.

String resonance: When the hammer of a grand piano strikes its string, the other strings will also resonate. The P-255 can reproduce this effect using its String Resonance feature.

Additionally, the P-255 uses the Pure CF Sound Engine for its samples.

The instrument has synthetic ivory key tops for a more authentic playing experience and with moisture absorption properties.

Its built-in circular speakers vibrate in a natural manner to produce a well-balanced tone. In particular, lower notes are richer than digital pianos featuring oval speakers. The P-255 also features tweeters, for improving higher note reproduction, and dual 15W amplifiers.

The Sound Boost button can be used to increase the volume and presence of the sound. Coupled with this, three EQ sliders allow more fine-tuning of different frequency ranges.

The P-255 also features rhythm tracks (ten in total), a range of other non-piano sounds including organs, a string section, basses and a wide variety of other instruments, variable touch response setting, direct-to-USB audio recording, and 256 note polyphony.

The free P-255 Controller App for iPhone or iPad lets you can control a wide range functions with an easy-to-use, touch-screen interface. This visual approach to configuring the P-255 makes it easy to try out functions that you may not have considered using before. Graphically choose which Voices to layer, adjust the split point, manage songs you record to a USB device and more, all with the touch of a finger. You can also use the app to store your favorite settings and recall them instantly whenever needed. Explore the settings and sounds of the P-255 even before yours arrives at home.

The Disklavier concept is now 25 years old, and is used in many music schools and other educational establishments in order to allow students to practice and the instrument reproduce accurate, note-for-note performances.

The press release states, “The initial focus of the new website is on the world’s first online college piano audition program that replicates an in-person performance, which runs from early January through mid February. Working in partnership with 17 community colleges and universities along with 27 audition sites, Yamaha is now offering young pianists the opportunity to record video-synchronized auditions on Disklavier PRO reproducing pianos that are shared with college admissions and scholarship committees over the Internet. At their convenience, audition committees will be able to access these time-shifted performances via the cloud, watching the students play on a large screen while their own piano reproduces these performances as though the student was in the room.”

We’ve been building to this moment for months, and now Yamaha has finally announced the successor to its Tyros 4 arranger workstation. Isn’t it just the way that a major announcement was made the day I went on holiday? Hmmm. Still, better late than never, here’s the deal.

Yamaha will offer two Tyros5 models — a 61-key (4 octave) version and a larger 76-key (just over 6 octave) one.

More than 300 new voices have been added to the models, including “S.Art2 Voice” — high-quality sounds that re-create the feeling of an actual instrument when performing.

Ensemble performances allow the player to maintain a set number of instruments regardless of how many notes are being played. In the past, a Voice like Brass Quartet would use a sample of four players, which sounded great. However, if you played two notes you’d get eight players, which could sound great but isn’t the most realistic. Tyros5 Ensemble Voices always get the same number of players because Tyros5 has the musical knowledge of a professional music arranger. Play two notes with a Brass Quartet Ensemble Voice, and Tyros5 will send the trumpets to the top notes and the trombones to the lower notes.

The Tyros5 features Vintage, Home, Euro, Concert, and Theatre organ Voices, all superbly reproduced with stunning samples that allow the Tyros5 to shine in any situation that an organist might encounter. With features such as a comprehensive set of realistic organ-style controls, adjustable effects, and intuitive operation that allows you to alter the sound in real time while you play, Organ World is sure to meet the demands of the most demanding performer.

There are forty new percussion-bases styles. Audio Styles add natural feel, ambience, and warmth to drum and percussion parts, offering greater expressive potential. Audio Styles also benefit from Yamaha’s Time Stretch Technology, which allows the audio to follow your tempo changes without changing pitch, so everything stays in perfect sync.

Not only does the Tyros5 have new and high-quality effect types, including Real Distortion and Real Reverb, it provides beautifully designed panel displays, with highly intuitive controls – just like actual effect devices. These also include VCM (Virtual Circuit Modeling) effects that use the same technology as the professional-level processing on Yamaha’s high-end mixers.

The Tyros5 is capable of playing back and recording audio files (including performances using Audio Styles), and also possesses a range of audio manipulation features you can use to create “karaoke” style “minus one” tracks in the key and tempo of your choice.

Yamaha has announced a number of pianists who will perform at its sixth International Piano Series to be held at The Malvern Theatres in Worcestershire, England.

The series commences on 18th October with John Lill performing works by Haydn, Chopin, Beethoven and Brahms. The Malvern recital is to form a key part of John Lill’s 70th Birthday celebrations, and to bring John closer to the audience the Theatre will be erecting a large screen to show close-up hands and keyboard video of the entire performance.

This year’s Yamaha International Piano Series opens with a recital by John Lill. As a technical innovation to open the series, John Lill’s performance will be displayed on screens within the auditorium. This will enable audience members to view the concert from various different angles, including a shot from a camera directly above the keyboard.

UPDATE: The Tyros5 was announced on November 11, 2013. Check out the announcement and visit our dedicated Tyros5 microsite.

Over a decade has passed since Yamaha launched its first Tyros arranger keyboard. Since then, it has released the Tyros 2, Tyros 3 and Tyros 4. With almost three years having passed since the Tyros 4 launched, it’s unsurprising to see a lot of speculation about when a Tyros 5 might surface.

Speculation: Tyros5 Release Date

Yamaha Presentation speculation: Various forum postings suggest there has been a major Yamaha trade/dealer event in Palma de Mallorca today (24 October). We cannot verify this at present.

That’s three years from one to two; three years from two to three; and two years from three to four. Yet the two year mark since Tyros4 has already passed, so might we be looking at a Tyros5 come September 2013?

Speculation: Tyros5 Specification

If a Tyros5 is released, what features might it have? Looking at the Tyros comparison chart (doesn’t include the original Tyros) might give us some clues as to what Yamaha would put in a Tyros5, given that it tends to improve upon rather than radically change specifications within a particular keyboard series.

Number of Keys: All Tyros keyboards have had 61 keys (5 octaves) so we can assume Yamaha is happy with this fairly compact size — there are plenty of other Yamaha workstations with bigger keyboard range for those who want it.

Polyphony: The polyphony has remained constant at 128 from the first Tyros through Tyros 4. With many other keyboards and synths still being released with that much polyphony, I can foresee Yamaha sticking with this figure, though of course 192 or 256 would be great.

Aftertouch/Touch Response: Yamaha would be crazy not to add aftertouch to the Tyros5, given its presence in all previous models. Given the physical keyboard has remained the same, it would be strange not to include it. Obviously touch response is a necessity, rarely missing from any but the cheapest keyboards.

Controllers: All previous models had the near-ubiquitous pitch and modulation wheels plus multi pads. The Tyros 4 introduced nine data sliders and two articulation switches, not found on previous models, so I’d expect to see at least this on a Tyros 5. I’d be surprised to see any new standard controllers added to the unit, given its size.

Sound System: Yamaha’s AWM Stereo Sampling system has served it well, receiving various upgrades along the way and present in many of its keyboards and digital pianos. This surely stays in the Tyros5.

Number of Voices: The number of on-board voices has steadily increased with each Tyros generation, and we’re now used to seeing keyboards coming with thousands of voices ready to go. With Tyros being marketed primarily as an arranger/music production workstation rather than a synth, I’d expect more dynamic voices to be on any new Tyros, probably with more ways of controlling them and perhaps tweaking their sound. That said, once you hit a couple of thousand distinct voices, each of which can be aurally shaped both during performance and in basic structure, does the average user really need any more? I’d expect around 1,500 factory preset voices to be in a Tyros5, with more emphasis on the feature voices (Articulation, Cool, Live, etc.)

Voice Sampling: The Tyros4 came with 1GB of custom voice sampling space, which was optional on previous models. A gigabyte is a reasonable amount of space, particularly as many people will use the Tyros with computer software and storage. I reckon Yamaha will stick with 1GB, with the possibility of an upgrade to 2GB, or storage on a USB drive.

Effects: The number of onboard effects increased gradually with each Tyros upgrade. I don’t think Yamaha needs to add much more from that present on the Tyros4.

Accompaniments: Yamaha may well add to the number of accompaniments, but with 500 present on the Tyros4, perhaps just a styling update is in order.

Vocal Harmony: The Tyros4 vocal harmony engine was a notable improvement over the Tyros3. If Yamaha has made any more improvements to this system, I’d expect to see them here, otherwise more of the same.

Functions such as layering and keyboard split are fairly standard and don’t need an update.

Storage: As with most technology devices, I’d expect more RAM and a bigger hard drive — say 500GB. It really depends how many users Yamaha thinks will be using the Tyros5 as a standalone device.

I’ve also seen some people suggesting that an absence of stock in certain online and offline retailers is a sign of a new Tyros coming soon. However, others have noted that many retailers won’t take on expensive, top of line models on the off chance they sell, particularly in the current economic climate. Therefore, this can probably be taken with a grain of salt.

Tyros Tipsters

The Tyros Tipsters share their hopes for features in the Tyros 5 in this video, although they’re of the opinion that the Tyros 4 is already very good, and it will be hard for Yamaha to improve upon it.

Updates

We’ll keep this page updated whenever we hear more interesting rumours, or actual news from Yamaha.

Buzz

Here’s how Google Trends is tracking searches for Tyros 5, compared with Tyros 2, Tyros 3 and Tyros 4 which naturally peaked at their release dates.

Over To You

What features would you like to see on the Tyros5? Do you think it will ever be released? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

No sooner do we feature a silver painted Baldwin piano when along comes this rather fetching/interesting (you decide) green Yamaha acoustic piano.

You can judge for yourself whether the makeover, again using chalk paint, is a good idea. Personally, I can never tire of the original wooden grains of an original piano — even if it’s a bit battered it can often be rejuvenated and made to look good.

Still, Monica didn’t feel the “old-fashioned” oak of this Yamaha suited the decor of the rest of the home, but as she loved listening to her husband playing the piano, and the kids enjoying running and dancing around to the music, she decided a makeover was a better option than scrapping it.

The paint is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and the colour is Antibes Green.

Monica says, “I hear so many people say, ‘but you can’t paint it – it’s REAL wood!’ and I want to go on the record saying, ‘It can be REAL wood and still be REALLY ugly!’ Don’t be afraid to paint!”

I guess I prefer the natural look, but each to their own. If I had to choose between these two, though, I think I’d plump for the silver. Maybe that’s because my digital piano is silver with a wood grain trim.

I love looking through old (i.e. 1980s) synthesizer and keyboard manuals. I am sure no matter how excited Yamaha’s employees are about a particular model, they must get a bit bored sometimes when writing manuals. The cure? Inject some humour into the proceedings.

Take the mid-1980s B200 digital synthesizer. This pretty detailed manual includes an appendix which explains FM Synthesis, which lies at the core of the machine.

First off, it tries to educate the reader on “interesting sounds versus boring sounds”, suggesting that the early bleeps and buzzes of electronic music is simple to create but boring for a human to listen to (I think some might disagree, but each to their own). It then explains the FM Synthesis as “an easy yet powerful way to create the complex sounds that make real instruments sound so good.”

Then we come to the explanation of vibrato:

“You can probably guess that the greater the modulation, the more complex the resulting sound will be. (The harder you step on a cat’s tail, the louder it complains!)”

Well, what do you think of that? More importantly, were any cats harmed in the creation of this manual?

Yamaha has announced its new summer programme allowing both individual pianists and educational institutions the ability to either part-exchange or restore existing Yamaha acoustic and digital pianos, allowing them to get hold of new models or add value to current ones.

The Upgrade Bonus programme runs from August 2013 to January 2014 and will offer either a guaranteed price or a budget for instrument restoration.

Today we are blessed with a plethora of software, apps and keyboards with built-in music theory/practice features, but back in the 1980s that wasn’t the case.

Yamaha decided to build in some basic musical games on its mini HandySound keyboards, which were manufactured in the early ’80s.

According to the manual there were three playable games on the HandySound HS-501.

The first is like “Simon Says”. Players read the notes displayed on the treble clef staff and play the right notes in order.

The second game is “Keyboard Poker”. The description is a bit vague but it consists of “a musical note moving up and down the staff display, and you stop it in mid-flight by pressing any key”. OK then.

The third game is “Keyboard Invader”, which appears to be modelled on Space Invaders and again seems to be a note matching type of game.

If anyone has played these and can give a better description, please leave a comment below.

The keyboard, sporting 25 mini-sized keys, was a massive 4-note polyphonic, and could belt out five different sounds: piano, organ, violin, clarinet and harpsichord. All with the usual cheesiness of cheap ’80s keyboards, no doubt.

Take a look at some of the manual screenshots. The whole manual can be downloaded here

A major feature at this year’s NAMM show is that of interaction between digital keyboards / pianos and mobile devices, in particular Apple’s line of iPad, iPhone and iPod products.

Yamaha is debuting a range of new apps for iOS-based devices, seeking to help musicians get the most from their Yamaha products.

MusicSoft Manager for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch that enables users to manage and move content between the instrument’s internal memory, any attached storage device, computer, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Dropbox. MusicSoft Manager is free from the App Store and works with the Yamaha DTX400K, DTX430K, DTX450K, PSRS750, PSRS950, Tyros4, CVP601 and wirelessly with the CVP605 and CVP609. It is available immediately in 28 countries including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Yamaha MusicSoft Manager App

Yamaha Repertoire Finder App

Yamaha MyMusic Recorder App

Repertoire Finder app allows players to browse songs on an easy-to-use interface complete with album artwork. Once a tune is found, users can see different banks of registration for playing that song and have them sent directly to their instrument. This feature is excellent for the user that doesn’t know much about combining Voices, setting effects or choosing Styles and perfect for the musician that wants to use the same settings as a specific artist. Users can also create and share their own registrations. It will be available in February 2013 in the App Store for free download.

My Music Recorder is a simple MIDI, audio and video recorder designed to track and share your keyboard performances on entry-level keyboards. My Music Recorder is free from the App Store, and is slated for release in April 2013.

Sound Controller allows musicians to control and manipulate instrument Voices on their portable keyboards. Sound Controller will be available in April 2013 for free in the App Store.

Each of these apps require an optional interface like Yamaha’s i-MX1 or i-UX1, unless otherwise stated.